Traveling by balloons might look exciting, but with unpredictable wind conditions it can make for a bumpy ride.

Matt Silver-Vallance floated from Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisonned for 18 years during apartheid, to the coast of South Africa -- using nothing but 160 helium-filled balloons and a paragliding harness. His goal for the stunt was to raise money for the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital. The 3.7-mile crossing over the sea took about an hour.

"I got to about one thousand feet, about the height of Table Mountain," Silver-Vallance said in an interview with The Mail and Guardian, a national newspaper in South Africa.

He eventually resorted to popping about 35 balloons with a spear so that he could be pulled in by sea rescue vessels.

ABC News reported that the support team that assisted Silver-Vallance from the water helped him "navigate shark-infested water, a nuclear power station and the flight restricted zone near the airport."

The flight came to an end shortly before Silver-Vallance reached the shore, since a water-landing was deemed safer than trying to reach solid ground. The project raised about $10,000 for the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital.